NTSB to investigate deadly Florida church van crash

Flames engulf vehicles after a fiery crash along Interstate 75, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019, about a mile south of Alachua, near Gainesville, Fla. (WGFL-Gainesville via AP)

MIAMI – The federal agency responsible for investigating major crashes and accidents is sending an eight-member team to Florida to investigate a fiery crash that killed two semitrailer drivers and five children riding in a church van.

The National Transportation Safety Board announced the investigation Wednesday on Twitter. The post says the recent government shutdown prevented them from investigating sooner.

Florida Highway Patrol says the crash occurred Jan. 3 on Interstate 75 near Gainesville. A tractor-trailer and a car heading north smashed into each other and then burst through a metal guardrail, slamming into another semitrailer and the southbound van. A fifth car, unable to avoid the chaos, hit people who were thrown from the van.

The van had been coming from a Pentecostal church in Marksville, La., for a visit to Walt Disney World.